portfolio site betaversion

Kind of lost on this one, Jack. What is the site for? I don't know if I would understand even if in English and no I am not being Ruud.

I guess I had just a couple of comments on it. I think for one that it lacks a bit of identity. Who is Ruudonline and why do they have a website? Do they have any kind of a logo to use as an identity?

Also I am not sure about using the non-breaking spaces in your title to space your letters. This will set you apart from others but it has one maybe two problems. One would be that it might be a bit annoying to people when they add you to their favorites and your name takes up half the screen. People don't like to be toyed with. The other thing that I wonder is whether it will cause search engines like Google that use titles in their search to have problems. I would suspect that there is at least a chance of that happening.
I did like the center box that popped up when you clicked on the freestyle links, etc. It was well done. The only thing that I wonder about is whether people would be intuituve enough to click on those links. I would consider having the box pop-up when you clicked on the link.

Overall I had a good impression. It is very well done. I just think they main thing that it lacks is a bit of an identity.

Neat! I like it. It's really cool how the navigation works - how you click on a link and the box pops up in that empty space. It's cool and unique without being unusable which I really like.

I also really like the lightness of the colour scheme - without any heavy blocks of colour it just gives a nice light and airy feeling to the site.

One thing you might want to work on is the photos you've used in the nav buttons. They just don't have a consistent look and feel - like the eye and the mouth are sort of fuzzy compared to the links for example.

I agree with mairving about the identity thing, although this would probably make more sense if I understood the language.

Thanx Mairving and Megan for replying so fast!

I'll give you both an individual answer:

Mairving:
The site is about...me, and this is what it's for:
I'm a interaction design student and I have to get employed for half a year to get graduated (by Dutch law).
That's why I'm making a list of companies I want to work for. When I think that list is long enough, I'll send those companies a mail with at the bottom of it a link to ruudonline.net, so that they can see what I'm capable of.

Logo: Since I'm just 1 person and not a company I decided not to make one.

Non breaking spaces: You're right about them, although I doubt wether my site is ever going to be on Google, Yahoo etc.... Anyway, I'll get rid of them.

"...The only thing that I wonder about is whether people would be intuituve enough to click on those links. I would consider having the box pop-up when you clicked on the link."
I'm not sure what you are trying to say here. Seems to me that you're suggesting something I've already done, but that wouldn't make sense, right? Could you explain a bit?

Identity: See my answer to Megan.

Thanx a lot!

Megan:
"...nice light and airy feeling...": GREAT! That was my intention!

photos in the nav buttons: I know and I agree with that, but it's very hard to find suitable photos (For instance: The mouth on the second button is mine ). I promised myself that if I find some good photos, I'll have to update the nav buttons.

"...the identity thing would probably make more sense if I understood the language." Ha, no doubt about that! Maybe in future I'll make an English version, which I will post at TWF ofcourse.

Anyway: Thanks!

Jack :þ

PS to everyone: Keep 'em coming!!!

I was curious why it is setup in English and Dutch. Why are the links like Home in Dutch but the click-thru's in Dutch.

I didn't think that I was real clear in my last post about this

Quote: The only thing that I wonder about is whether people would be intuituve enough to click on those links. I would consider having the box pop-up when you clicked on the link."

What I am saying is that when someone clicks on say your showroom, a box pops up over on the right side. When they drag their cursor over to that box and click a link, a center box opens up. Then they have to drag their cursor over to the center box. It is a bit awkward from a user standpoint. I click on the left, directed to the right, click on the right, directed to the center, click on the center. So really all I am suggesting is to possibly reconsider the location of your right box. It should be somewhere closer to the other links. Too much mouse chasing.

On second look, I would also maybe consider to make your center scrollbox a little bit longer so that less scrolling, more text showing is achieved.

Well I like it lots. Different, fresh & if I could understand it probably very interesting!

mairving:
mouse chasing: you're right, but I think that is because of the large navigationbuttons that are positioned from the leftbottom to the righttop. The navbuttons are the face of my site and that's why I want to keep their positions like this.

Dutch vs English: Most Dutch people younger than 35 (target) speak a mixture of 70% Dutch and 30% English. So using English terms in a Dutch site is no problem in the Netherlands.

Scrollbar: You're again right, but this is also because of the nav-buttons.

Webmistress
thanx!

By the way:
I put a NS-friendly version online as well. ruudonline.net

Greets,

I have but one suggestion to add. I agree that the nav buttons on the front don't really match, so when you re-do those I suggest that you use the same effect on the text for each. I know.. it's boring, but it would first of all make a big difference in the tone of your site. The showroom effect, if used on all links would make it classier while the contact style would make it funkier and more.. 'playful' Secondly, it would make the layout click more. It's a nice layout but to me it seems just a little bit unfnished... tieing the links together more would fix that.

I like the site, it is very nice-looking, and i like the clors you chose. Gotta love grey text.

Thanx for your feedback Fringey,

tieing the links together: good idea, I'll fix it this weekend.
nav-buttons: Sorry, but you didn't convince me. When I re-do these buttons I'll keep the text effect different...In my opinion escpecially that makes the site "funkier and more.. 'playful'"

To everyone: Post more feedback plz!!!! ruudonline.net

I have shown it to my husband & some other friends and they all liked it (praise indeed from those philastines!)

The only negative comment was "Why do the buttons disappear when you click on them? It detracts from the text box opening and you kinda think for a moment that nothing's happened"

do they?????

Yeah they do I have just looked. When you click on the links (except the showroom one) the button disappears then shows again when the text box has appeared. Almost like there should be a rollover image showing.

Okay,

To me they sometimes disappear (did not see it until you said so)...

So I changed the MouseOver-scripts. I used scripts from Adobe ImageReady, but now I use scripts from MM UltraDev.

To me they don't disappear anymore, and to you?

That's better they don't disappear at all now

allrighty!

Who has more feedback?
ruudonline.net